After being at the center of a nail-biting encounter against Bangladesh, Hardik Pandya today recounted blow-by-blow what went through in his mind and in the Indian camp during that last over. The youngster also revealed that he finds himself similar to Kohli, who he also called his role-model.
Even as he was relaxing through a movie marathon a day after what must have been an emotionally-charged evening, Pandya interacted with fans in a periscope session through the BCCI twitter account. “The last game was amazing. We were all nervous. In the end, we came out winners. I am still enjoying the feeling”, he said when asked about how he felt.
The ‘star of the moment’ also reacted to his new-found fame saying, “In the airport, people were shouting my name. I can just see the love. I am the talking point, and I am enjoying it.”
Pandya then recounted what was going on in the middle of the arena in that last over with a laptop in hand. Asked about how he felt before the first ball, “I was very relaxed. If we win, this will be great. But I also did not want to take too much pressure,” he said.
“In the first ball, I tried a yorker, and it worked well as it was sent to point. In the second ball, we planned to pitch it outside off stump, and I executed it, but it ended up badly, and I was quite depressed,” he said.
Pandya talked about how he felt after the premature celebration by Mushfiqur after the third ball saying, “In the third ball (when the ball went for a four behind the stumps), he (Mushfiqur) was celebrating as if the game was over. Normally, I would react. But the situation was not demanding that I react. So I did not.”
It was in the fourth ball when it all appeared over that things spun on their head. Pandya said, “Obviously three runs off two balls was tough to defend. So we let him slog. That’s why experience matters. He celebrated before it ended.
I didn’t react even now. I gave him a goodbye look.”
“For the fifth ball, I tried a yorker but it came out as a full toss and Jadeja took a terrific catch under pressure. It was not at all an easy catch. This was when we finally got hope. Till then we just wanted to tie the game,” revealed Pandya.
“For the sixth ball, I wanted to go for a yorker. Then we decided to go for a length ball outside the off-stump. It was a bluff.
And then, Dhoni just sprinted and took the stumps off. I did not even wait for the umpire’s decision and went straight to the Bangladesh Camp. I was just pumped up.
This over is like a dream. You can’t script it. Three dot balls, three wickets.
I gave everyone a lot of heart-attacks, but it was all fine in the end,” said Pandya.
In the end, when asked about Virat Kohli, Pandya commented, “He is a role-model for me, I idolize him – his work ethic, commitment and passion. I can learn many things from him. I find myself similar to Virat in attitude.”